MAX® 5510 ACRegenerator® A/V Line Conditioner
Panamax products have been a part of our audio
and home theater system for over a decade. Our original MAX®1000 served us well
and was eventually traded in for the MAX®1000+ that took its place. Since then,
Panamax has introduced several new products that meet the demand of today's home
entertainment systems. These latest products offer more features, better looks
and excellent build quality for the money. Their latest flagship model, the MAX®
5510, offers even more features than the previous MAX® 5500 with the ability to
control the secondary output of the isolation transformer. The isolated power
can be configured for Isolated Power or Balanced Power depending
on the user's needs.
The Panamax MAX® 5510 ACRegenerator® offers an amazing $5,000,000 Connected Equipment Protection Policy and a three year parts and labor warranty. This is one of the best warranties we've seen in the industry and provides consumers with the confidence they need to maximize performance while protecting their equipment. The appearance of the MAX® 5510 is similar to the MAX® 5500 with an attractive look and solid build quality that results in the unit weighing 30 pounds. A button on the front panel is one of two triggers that can activate a turn-on or shutdown sequence for the Isolated and High Current outlets. Analog panel meters for Voltage and Current have a pleasant orange/amber backlight. The 5-Watt goose-neck lamp mates to the three-prong XLR-style receptacle and includes a dimmer control that also adjusts the panel meter lighting. Status indicators are provided for Switched Outlets, DC Voltage Trigger, Unsafe Voltage, Isolated Power and Balanced Power status. The top of the chassis has a schematic diagram detailing each of the filter blocks, relays and connections on the back of the unit, which comes in handy when connecting components. Panamax has also placed a single outlet on the right side of the front panel for quick power needs. This is a great idea and we used this numerous times for powering devices such as camcorders and other temporary components.
The rear panel of the MAX® 5510
is loaded with connections. There are a total of ten 3-prong outlets for powering
equipment. The first two banks (four outlets) are always powered on as long as
the unit is connected to wall power and within the allowable voltage range. Each
bank has its own separate “balanced, double L” filtration circuit to provide power
for audio and video components requiring continuous power such as VCRs and PVRs
(Personal Video Recorders). The next set of four outlets is fully isolated from
the incoming power using an isolation transformer. This prevents digital noise
from polluting the main power line. These isolated outlets have a programmable
(0, 10, or 30 seconds) turn-off delay. The remaining two outlets are designed
for high-current components such as amplifiers and powered subwoofers. These delayed
outputs have a selectable delayed turn-on time (0, 10, or 30 seconds) to make
sure the preamplifier electronics have stabilized to prevent an inadvertent "thump"
on the speakers. The outputs are specifically designed to maximize dynamic current
needs for power amplifiers and subwoofers. Therefore, no inductors are used here.
The four RCA audio/video pairs are designed to protect line level audio signals
or video signals. The clamping voltage for these inputs is set at 6.5 volts.
The MAX® 5510 has a 15 amp main circuit breaker for the input power. There's also a secondary 4 amp circuit breaker to protect the isolation transformer. However, the majority of digital components draw little current, so this is seldom a problem. As always, we like to see a detachable power cord on a unit of this size and Panamax has provided this on all their high-end MAX® products. The three-prong XLR-style receptacle for the 5-Watt goose-neck lamp is also available on the rear panel.
The SurgeGate Plus™ circuitry protects components connected to the MAX® 5510 by preventing any of the outlets from getting voltage beyond the 90V to 134V range for an extended period of time. Protection is also provided between Line/Neutral, Neutral/Ground and Line/Ground. The SignalPerfect™ Technology protects the two satellite interfaces and the single antenna/cable connection. All F-connectors are gold-plated to ensure long-term reliability for both satellite and cable/antenna connections. The cable/antenna connections are designed to operate over a range of 5 to 950 MHz with a clamping threshold set at 0.7V, well above the level of the modulated video signal. Satellite connections work over a range from 950 MHz to 2.2 GHz with a loss of less than 1dB in signal level. The clamping circuitry for the satellite connections is set at 27V to handle the 13 and 18 volt control voltages used for the LNBs. A protected phone line (RJ-11) connection is also provided on the MAX® 5510 for Digital Satellite boxes.
The MAX® 5510 provides two 12VDC trigger inputs for remote triggering from external devices such as a master controller. We used our Parasound AVC-2500u A/V Controller to drive the trigger input on the MAX® 5510 and it worked perfectly. This feature makes turning on the system simple while still protecting your valuable electronics.
The inside
of the MAX® 5510 is occupied
by a large toriodal isolation transformer along with several circuit boards. The
layout is well organized and divided into functional blocks. A separate linear
power supply is used for the microprocessor and other low voltage electronics.
Several smaller boards hold the display
and control electronics, coaxial protection circuits and the delay controls and
phone connections. Three separate heavy-duty relays are used to engage power to
the rear outlets as long as the voltage levels are within acceptable limits. The
analog meters are mounted to their own circuit card. The dual “balanced, double
L” filtration circuits occupy a large part of the area due to the size of the
donut shaped inductors. Once again, Panamax has taken
great care in the design of the latest MAX® product.
Our system performance benefitted from the MAX® 5510 particularly with the Mitsubishi PD-5010 plasma display we are currently reviewing. We noticed a subtle decrease in low level noise (near black) when switching between the Panamax MAX® 5510 and a standard power strip. We believe the noise we observed was due to some digital components used in our system. We didn't hear a significant difference when our audio signals were routed through the MAX® 5510.
Panamax
has designed a complete MAX® product that meets the needs of today's demanding
A/V enthusiast. The MAX® 5510 focuses on high performance power conditioning and
voltage protection to pacify the concerns of the consumers who have invested a
lot of money in their A/V setup. Panamax's $5,000,000 Connected Equipment Protection
Policy ensures that they too believe in their product. The latest Panamax MAX®
5510 is the most capable MAX® product created to date.
- Kevin
Nakano